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Key opposition leaders to give swearing-in of Congress CMs a miss
The absence of Trinamool Congress’ Banerjee, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati is at the events the Congress is using as an opportunity to showcase a united face of the opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati will not attend the swearing-in ceremonies of three Congress chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on Monday.
The absence of Trinamool Congress’ Banerjee, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati is at the events the Congress is using as an opportunity to showcase a united face of the opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year.
And, their non-attendance comes a day after key ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) proposed Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate, saying he has the “ability to defeat the fascist BJP”. Sunday was also the first time senior opposition figures were together at an event after the Congress wrested power in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the November-December assembly elections.
Mayawati’s absence comes despite the BSP’s support to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and the SP backing the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress has won a majority on its own in Chhattisgarh.
Banerjee, who had earlier floated the idea of a central front of regional parties, has not shown the same warmth for the Congress after exchanging bonhomie with Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and her counterparts from Delhi and Telangana, Arvind Kejriwal and K Chandrashekar Rao respectively, apart from DMK president MK Stalin.
Trinamool’s member of Parliament Dinesh Trivedi will be representing the party at the event. Asked whether he was carrying any message for the ceremony, Trivedi told news agency PTI, “There is no message as such. My going there is a message itself.”
And, Mayawati and Yadav had shared the dais at the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka’s Janata Dal (Secular) chief minister HD Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru in May, where a show of opposition unity was on display.
Yadav has nominated the party’s sole Madhya Pradesh MLA Rajesh Kumar ‘Babloo Shukla’ to attend Kamal Nath’s swearing-in ceremony. Meanwhile, a BSP leader said party MLAs and the office bearers of the BSP unit will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Kamal Nath at Bhopal.
The BSP has two MLAs in Madhya Pradesh and six in Rajasthan. People familiar with the matter said the Congress had offered to have the BSP join the government in both the states to strengthen the opposition unity before the 2019 Lok Sabha election but Mayawati has maintained a silence on the issue.
Announcing her support to Congress in both the states, she had, however, condemned its policy and ideology, adding that the BSP decided to extend support to the Congress in both the states to prevent the BJP from grabbing power.
On Sunday, Yadav also said his party’s support to the Congress in MP was only for the sake of keeping the BJP out. “We have lent support to the Congress in MP for the sake of democracy and secularism,” he said.
While Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot will take oath as chief minister and deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, respectively, in Jaipur at 10am, Kamal Nath will be sworn in as Madhya Pradesh CM in Bhopal at 1.30pm. Bhupesh Baghel will take oath as Chhattisgarh CM in Raipur at 5pm.
Gehlot had earlier written letters to the Opposition leaders inviting them to the event.
“Assembly election is not just a victory for the Congress party but is also a victory of progressive politics, a victory for those who uphold the constitution of India and believe in the nation’s diversity and plurality,” Gehlot had written.
Opposition leaders including Naidu, his Karnataka counterpart HD Kumaraswamy, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, All India Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi, Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, Loktantrik Janta Dal chief Sharad Yadav, Stalin and DMK leader Kanimozhi will attend the events in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, JMM’s Hemant Soren, RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary, HAM’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik)’s Babulal Marandi, Indian Union Muslim League’s PK Kunhalikutty, All India United Democratic Front’s Badruddin Ajmal, Swabhimani Paksha’s Raju Shetti and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party’s Upendra Kushwaha will also be in attendance.
